I believe in leaving space in our homes for serendipity. When you keep your eyes and heart open, you can stumble upon pieces that feel more meaningful than anything you could have planned.
A home should tell your story, and one of the best ways to add character is by furnishing it with unexpected discoveries that feel personal and layered.
Today I’m sharing how I furnished part of our home and the story of finding my dream bed on Facebook Marketplace just days ago.
You may remember I recently wrote about a small spring refresh in our bedroom and mentioned I was still hunting for a light fixture. I hadn’t planned any other big changes—but things shifted quickly. Not only did I find a new light fixture, but after making a mood board and browsing Facebook Marketplace I also discovered a coastal-style bed that felt made for our room overlooking the Salish Sea.
Our Plan for Furniture
After downsizing to this smaller home, we gave away a lot of furniture and intentionally slowed the process of refurnishing. There’s no rush. We’re content with what we have and I’ve been gradually replacing or adding pieces that truly resonate. That slow, careful approach helps our home develop a collected, lived-in feel rather than feeling hurried or forced.
We’ve purchased a few accent chairs and small pieces here and there, and I’m happy to swap things out if something we love comes along within our budget. That openness to discovery keeps decorating fun and pressure-free.
Once renovations were finished I felt ready to look a little more intentionally. Scrolling Facebook Marketplace for inspiration turned into a creative exercise: I found a marble-top console and a charming chair that sparked new ideas. I’ll share those finds in another post.
My plan for furnishing our living spaces has mostly been: be open to serendipity. I teach members of my HomeBody Gathering Place community how to cultivate this mindset and how to build a cohesive, collected style. When your home reflects the stories of how pieces were found, it becomes a sanctuary.
How Creating a Mood Board Led to My Dream Bed
In HomeBody Gathering Place we recently discussed mood boards: why they matter and how they help you clarify a personal style. A mood board doesn’t have to be a shopping list—it’s a visual tool to help you imagine how a room could feel.
Over the weekend I made a mood board for our bedroom simply to see the style as a whole. I wasn’t planning to buy anything immediately; I wanted to let ideas surface. I believe in making a dream board first, then translating that into a realistic plan. The dream board invites you to take creative risks and follow what your heart prefers rather than playing it safe.
On my board I included a few pieces we already own and the image of a bed I’ve admired for years. It has a classic, whimsical look that resonates with how I like to decorate. I loved all the color options but gravitated toward robin’s egg blue—something about that shade feels like waves and suits our coastal view.
Even as a dream, that bed symbolized an element of whimsy I always want in our home. A single playful piece can make a room feel inviting and unpretentious.
The Serendipitous Discovery
When you’re open to serendipity, don’t rule out possibilities before you start. I decided to search Facebook Marketplace for that bed—even though it felt unlikely to appear, especially where I live. There was no pressure and no timeline. If I found something, great; if not, the exercise was still useful for defining style.
Minutes after placing the robin’s egg blue bed on my mood board, I searched Marketplace using the bed’s name. To my surprise there it was—exactly the style I’d been dreaming about. It felt like a small gift, and my heart skipped a beat.
Practical issues quickly surfaced: the price was far below retail, but we didn’t own a truck, the listing was across the border in Canada, and it was late on a Saturday with no banks open. Still, I messaged the seller. At first I didn’t hear back, and I couldn’t sleep. At 5:30 AM the seller replied asking when we could pick it up.
By 10 AM we had rented a U-Haul utility truck and headed to the border. The day became a small adventure—no ATMs open on Sunday, missing a tool to disassemble the bed, spotty phone service in Canada, and other unexpected hurdles—but we persisted.
By 6 PM on Sunday, the bed was in our home. I used funds I had set aside for a living room piece, and I don’t regret it—this bed feels like the right piece for our bedroom right now. I also bought the new light fixture shortly before and after the discovery, so the bedroom is becoming a focus.
As for the bed I previously loved (the cane bed), it found a happy new home: my daughter Courtney and her husband wanted a different bed, so they now have the one I’m passing along. It worked out beautifully for everyone.
UPDATE: You can now see the bed in my room in a follow-up post.